Gwen

Our Gwenners just got her haircut. She thinks she looks pretty cute and so do we.

Daddy Love

Jon is in San Francisco on a business trip. He called early this morning and told the girls to run downstairs and to get on ichat on our computer. As soon as they clicked on the icon there he was waving at them from his hotel room. They talked and made jokes for a while and blew kisses through the screen. Gwen even showed off her new haircut. Seeing him like this with our girls makes me love him even more. After we said good-bye Elle said, "daddy sure loves us." He flies back home this afternoon and we all can't wait.

Airplane

Gwen and I had a play-date today. With Elle at Kindergarten and Lily napping it left just the two of us together. This is her favorite activity...playing airplane. She also likes to play "spaceship" where I spin her around in circles. She is growing up so quickly. In fact, the two of us got up early this morning and went to preschool sign-ups for next year. She walked into the classroom and said (yelled), "Mom, I like this place!" I really LoVe this 3 year old.

Girls Only

This afternoon I went outside to find Elle and Gwen in our pop-up tent on our trampoline. They carried it out there all themselves. They also carried out a suitcase, every stuffed animal we own and multiple blankets, play-food and pillows. I was informed that it was for Girls Only! I had to draw the line when they were trying to get Lily out there with them. Visions of Lily rolling off the trampoline were running through my mind. I am however excited for the day when Lily CAN join them.

Sisters are Forever

I am constantly telling my girls how lucky they are to have each other. I tell them that no matter what... they need to love and look out for one another. That throughout their lives no one will understand them or "get them" as well as a sister. I know this from firsthand experience. I often say "Friends come and go but sisters are....(and they repeat with me) FOREVER".

Friends

Elle and Brinley (both 5 1/2)

Malia and Gwen ( both 3)

My friend and I loaded up our kids and took them to Balboa Island on Friday. They were in heaven.

Boat Rides + Ferris Wheel + Carousel + Corndogs = F U N

Getting Real

I started laughing yesterday thinking about my last post on how I have learned to "mother" each of my kids. This was Gwen in the Lowe's parking lot yesterday afternoon. She literally had a complete and total melt down because I told her that I was not going to buy her the Barbie book she saw in the check-out line. Yes, she is lying on the cement parking lot floor here and just imagine the screaming with this shot as well. I had Elle and Lily with me as well and I didn't have a car to contain all of this craziness because we were waiting for my car which was being worked on, on the other side of the shopping center. There I was in full view of the world looking and feeling like a complete and total failure as a mom. I had NO IDEA what to do with her. She was beyond reasoning with. I literally just stood above her and tried to talk with her...then I tried to carry her...then I tried to ignore...then I tried to be firm. Nothing worked. Everything in me wanted to just walk straight back into the store and buy that darn book but I held strong. We were quite the sight as we walked with her trailing behind us screaming. I eventually scooped her up as she was thrashing in my arms. I told her I loved her but that we can't always get whatever we want. As soon as we got back to the tire center I sat her on my lap and just hugged her. She eventually calmed down and just snuggled into me on my lap. Her crying finally lessened and while sniffling Gwen softly whispered, "sowwy mom". I almost started crying. It's not pretty all the time but maybe I do know how to mother my kids after all.

I took this picture with my phone. When situations like this come up I often will take a picture of them on my phone and picture-text Jon with the line, "good times!". We have a good laugh with them later in the day. I sent this photo to Jon yesterday from the tire center.

My Sidekick

Here's my Lily sitting where she spends the majority of her day...on my lap (or hip). My brother Jason (a.k.a. uncle jakey) took this photo of us the other day. She is awake a lot more these days and if not in physical contact with me, she likes to have visual contact. If she can see me she's happy. She sits in a rear facing carseat and even as I drive she tries to crank her head around to watch me. If she can't see me while driving and is sad for some reason, she wimpers and I just put my hand back to her and she holds my finger. That calms her down every time. I love this about her. I love that over time I have learned how to mother each of my girls. They are all so different and I have different tricks for each of them. I also know that as they get older these little tricks won't work anymore and I will have to learn new ones.

Happy Easter!

We had a fun Easter morning. Before bed I gave the girls their Easter Pajamas and then they left out carrots for the Easter Bunny. They were really concerned that we didn't leave any water for him too. I went into their room before I went to bed (they had been asleep for a few hours) and as I pulled the blankets back up onto Elle she said, "mama, I really think the Easter Bunny would like some water". I assured her that I would go back downstairs and leave a glass of water for him next to the carrots. Pretty cute. This morning there were some very cute voices yelling with excitement as they marched down the stairs to their Easter baskets. Gwen yelled at the top of her lungs, " The Easter Bunny came to MY house"!!! Their main gifts were the books; Pinkalicious, Purplicious and Goldilicious. They are adorable storybooks and they have been wanting them for some time now. The egg hunt was a hit and they were in a full sprint for each egg they spied in the backyard. Our Lily-pie was just the sweetest little thing and loved watching all of the excitement from Jon's lap. Gwen adorned her baby sister with the bunny ears. We have loads of Sees chocolate around the house right now and I couldn't be happier. This afternoon we are heading out to have Easter dinner with Grandma and Grandpa McGee and the McGee cousins. A Very Happy Easter.

Good Morning

How could you not have a good morning when you wake up to this?

Twinkle Toes

For months (literally) Elle has been begging me to get her some twinkle toes. I had no idea what she was talking about. I would just smile and say, "sure honey". Well she didn't give up. The darn words, "twinkle toes" kept coming up. She told me they were a really fancy pair of shoes and that she REALLY needed them. I looked them up online and then I officially started ignoring the idea. I mean really, these may be the tackiest pair of shoes I have ever seen (the hanging rose...wow). Elle was persistent and then said that ALL of the kindergarten girls had them. That didn't bother me...I still didn't purchase them for her. It wasn't until a friend of hers from school informed me that Elle kept telling all of them at recess that hers were "in the mail". OK...that hurt my heart and I am a sucker for stuff like that. I promptly went online and clicked, "add to cart". They arrived on Monday. I had them on her bed for her when she came home from school. Her smile was priceless. Elle's big toothless grin outshines all of those multi-colored sparkles (even the dangling roses) on her feet. I sure love this little kindergartner.

Happy Spring

I love springtime. Our house has lots of pink in it lately and I couldn't be happier. I switched up our front room a bit. I needed a computer/office area and just couldn't make it work anywhere else in the house. Putting the computer in the front room meant I had to go for a desk that would not only function but would also look pretty. I found this rustic, natural wood console table and have loved it from the first moment it arrived in our house. We use this room a lot more now too which has been great. It is directly next to our front door so now I can work on the computer while the kids play on the sidewalk in front of our home. Perfect. My other very favorite piece is this turquoise armoire. It was my good friend, Reny's and she decided she didn't have room for it anymore. I have admired it in her home for years and now I am the lucky one to get it in our home. It will eventually make its way to Lily's room. Right now it is still in our garage. As we were walking in from church yesterday, it looked so pretty with all of our pink, I had Jon take our picture. Happy Spring!

Little Lizzy

Meet Little Lizzy. The cutest, tiniest little lizard ever. Elle and Gwen have both loved holding her and caring for her for the past day. I am not a lizard lover but this one is pretty cute. (Almost as cute as Elle's freckles)

Daddy's Girl

Jon is preparing for big mountain bike race in the morning called Vision Quest. Not one part of it sounds fun to me but he is really excited. With work and family life being a little crazy lately, he hasn't been able to train as much as he would have liked but he's going for it. This afternoon he has been checking and re-checking all of his gear. I went out into the garage and found Gwen and her daddy working on their bikes just like this. The cutest thing is that she thought of this idea all on her own. Jon said she just pulled her bike up next to his and went to work. Gwenners has always been 100% a daddy's girl. Whenever she gets hurt it's her daddy that she wants to comfort her. I usually have to call him on his cell phone and as soon as she hears his voice she calms right down. There is nothing sweeter in my opinion than watching him with our girls.

My Lily

Lily is wearing green today but I dare you to try and not pinch those cheeks. Oh, how I love her.

Easter Trees

We love holidays around here. I try and make them special for our girls. They get so excited every time I pull out our decorations. For Easter, I love Easter Trees. I have bought a few of them over the years. I kept buying them because they were never really what I was envisioning. So this year, I decided to just make one that was exactly what I wanted. I ordered manzanita branches from the florist, sprayed them white and then arranged them in a big pink vase. Gwen helped me decorate it while Elle was at school. We were pretty proud of ourselves. It turned out just as I had hoped. Our other tree I moved up into Elle and Gwen's bedroom. And let me tell you, they LOVE having it in there. They decorate and re-decorate it daily. Having their own tree also keeps them off of our kitchen table playing with, (in elle's words) "our fancy tree". It's a win-win for sure.

Disneyland

Yesterday I loaded all 3 girls up and met Jon's parents at Disneyland. We had an amazingly fun day. The girls were in heaven. We rode every ride and for the first time, in a long time, I was able to ride with them. Grandma and Grandpa McGee took turns watching Lily. Gwen's first ride choice was Dumbo. It was VERY important to her that she rode the pink elephant. As soon as the gate opened she sprinted for it. And as you can see...mission accomplished. Elle's number one ride choice was Space Mountain. On this trip she finally got enough courage to try it out. As we were making sure she was tall enough for the ride, Gwen realized that she too was tall enough. My 3 year old is tall enough to ride Space Mountain. Wow. As soon as the ride was over Elle was half-smiling, squeezing the life out of my hand and shaking a little. Gwen on the other hand was yelling, "again, again"! On Splash Mountain as we were in the log heading up the the steep part before the big drop Gwen yelled, "hands-up"! Elle and I died laughing over that one. Tarzan's treehouse was also a favorite...especially the bridge. We all went on Pirates of the Caribbean and It's a Small World (Lily included). Lily's eyes were wide-open and she was so excited. Lots of churros, popcorn and lollipops were consumed. Pretty much a perfect day.

Tooth Fairy

Last week as I was in the kindergarten pick-up line waiting my turn for Elle to hop in the car, I saw her beaming on the sidewalk. As soon as she hopped in the car she could not contain herself. She said, "Mom, this is the best day of my whole life. I lost my tooth, we had an assembly today, it is the 100th day of school and I am the star of the week". Wow, what a day. She then showed me a little plastic treasure chest which held her tooth. For a kindergartner, losing your tooth AT SCHOOL pretty much equals celebrity status for the day. We came home and immediately the tooth fairy pillow came out of the closet. She has looked longingly at this little knit pillow for years. The day had finally come. Before bed she put her tooth in the little pocket on the pillow and carefully tucked it under her pillow. The next morning she came running into our room yelling that the tooth fairy had visited her and had left her some very fancy gold dollar coins. My Ellers is growing up and I can't believe it.

Home

This past weekend I headed up to LA with 3 friends for a 2 day photography workshop. It was so much fun to learn new things and to get excited about photography again. I also took an Illustrator course. It totally overwhelmed me but I am excited to take some more classes online with the same teacher and really figure the whole program out. We laughed a lot, ate a lot and learned a lot but I did miss my babies and Jon. Jon took Friday off of work and watched all 3 girls for the full two days. Amazing, I know... (he's a keeper). When I walked into the house late Saturday night the house was clean and all three girls were asleep. I asked him how it went with all the kids....he smiled and said, "they worked me". So funny! I loved it.

This morning I was cleaning up around the house and found Gwen just like this...in full costume. She is so hilarious. She kept flapping her wings and chirping. As fun as it was to get away for a bit I love being home.

Cheerios

Last night I was up with little Lily. She now has double ear infections. Poor baby. I settled her down, got her comfortable and back to sleep and then went in to check on Elle and Gwen. For the last year Elle has been begging me to have another midnight cheerios date. I whispered in her ear to wake her up and as soon as her eyes opened, I asked her if she wanted to join me downstairs for cheerios. Her entire face lit up. We tip-toed down the stairs in the dark and I got out the milk, bowls, spoons and cheerios. We sat on our kitchen bench with no lights on and a quilt wrapped around us. Neither of us ate very much but that wasn't the point. I asked her about kindergarten and noticed for the first time that she had a band-aide on her arm. She said she fell on the rug at school and got a rug burn. Something I had not even noticed the day before. I also learned some fun facts... she really wants to take an art class because she wants to learn how to draw penguins. Cute. Her very favorite thing about kindergarten recess is going on the swings but she does not like the rule that you only get 20 swings before you have to get off for the next person...I then asked how she liked that rule when SHE was the one counting....big smile. Elle also said that she wishes she had an older sister. I told her that even though she didn't have one, she could be the kind of older sister to Gwen and Lily that she wishes she had. That seemed to make her happy. I then told her 5 things (because she is 5) I loved about her and she then started to get sleepy. As we tip-toed back up the stairs she said, "mama, will you write me a note and put it on my wall so that when I see it in the morning I can know this was not a dream"? I grabbed a post it, wrote a quick note and tucked her back into bed.

I took this picture of her this morning before she woke up. So cute. I love my Elle and can't wait to start this tradition with my Gwen and my Lily.

Be Mine...

Forever.

(Balloons and photography compliments of Elle and Gwen)

My Little Lily

Miss Lily is still struggling with her breathing. She is eating more these days so that is a huge improvement. How cute is she with her bottle? I remember my grandma, Grammie Gwen, used to be so sick at the end of her life but she always looked so great every time we would see her...all dolled up in a cute outfit and jewelry. I remember her feeling really sick one day and saying, "you don't get very much sympathy when you're sick if you look this good". Funny. Well, the same goes for Lily. She looks adorable and keeps her smile almost around the clock but she is still having a lot of breathing problems. The nebulizer is helping a lot. I am still doing that for her around the clock. I am really tired but am so thankful there is something that makes her feel better. I am hoping things will improve this weekend.

Today is my Jon's birthday. He went out for a ride this morning and is still not home. I got the girls up early and we went to the store and they picked out balloons for him, a card, his favorite breakfast (an acai bowl) and of course donuts. Elle and Gwen both worked really hard decorating the card. They are currently sitting on the porch with all of their loot just waiting for him. It is so cute to see them so excited to surprise their daddy.

Kindergarten Valentines

Today is Elle's Kindergarten Valentine's Day Party. She is soo excited. I remember my elementary school valentine parties like they were yesterday. The night before carefully writing my name and choosing specifically which valentines to give to boys and which ones to give to girls. A mistake in that department could be very embarrassing! We worked on Elle's valentines last night and this morning for her to pass out to her classmates. She worked really hard and had to write her name 30 times! Yesterday at the store she chose Hershey's Kisses for her candy. She is my chocolate lover so it was an easy decision. Elle chose her outfit all by herself. I actually had her in something different earlier in the morning but before it was time to leave she came downstairs in this hot pink dress and cream sweater. She wanted to look extra fancy today for the party. I can't wait to hear all about it when I pick her up from school.

On a side note...please keep our Lily in your thoughts and prayers. She had a really rough night last night. I will take her back to the doctor this afternoon. xo

Sickie

Lily has been sick. Really sick. For the past week I have had a little girl who has been having a lot of trouble breathing. She starts coughing which leads to choking and it terrifies me. I am so nervous I have her right next to me in our room to sleep. We do rounds with the nebulizer every 3-4 hours around the clock, lots of saline drops, steam showers and she sleeps on an incline. She is so sweet and doesn't even try to rip the mask off during her treatments. As long as I keep eye contact with her while it is on, she is happy. Elle and Gwen think the rhino mask is hilarious. I think the best part of the week was finding this fabulous sleeping aid. I wish I had known about this years ago. Genius...and so cozy. My Lily is on the mend and I am so happy.